Monday, March 24, 2008

Mr. I-Change-My-Rap-Name-Practically-Every-Fortnight (c'mon, you know who I mean...) vs. The Late, Great TUPAC SHAKUR

I heard mention of this on the radio when I was driving on the wrong side of the road and car in Ireland this past week. For obvious reasons (seriously, driving on the right side of the car, on the left side of the road is surprisingly mentally taxing), I couldn't listen too closely. I Googled for recent news on the Tupac Shooting Scandal and found this...

God, I fucking knew it. I've been saying it for years, most commonly whenever I hear the Tupac-Biggie collaboration Living to Die:

It was a portentous moment in hip-hop -- the start of a bicoastal war that would culminate years later in the killings of Shakur and rap's other leading star, Christopher Wallace, better known as the Notorious B.I.G.

The ambush at the Quad remains a source of fascination and frustration to music fans and law enforcement officials alike. No one has ever been charged in the attack.

Now, newly discovered information, including interviews with people who were at the studio that night, lends credence to Shakur's insistence that associates of rap impresario Sean "Diddy" Combs were behind the assault. Their alleged motives: to punish Shakur for disrespecting them and rejecting their business overtures and, not incidentally, to curry favor with Combs.

The information focuses on two New York hip-hop figures -- talent manager James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond and promoter James Sabatino, who is now in prison for unrelated crimes.

FBI records obtained recently by The Times say that a confidential informant told authorities in 2002 that Rosemond and Sabatino "set up the rapper Tupac Shakur to get shot at Quad Studios." The informant said Sabatino had told him that Shakur "had to be dealt with."

R.I.P. Notorious B.I.G. Tupac, I'll see you 'round College Park. (Maryland, not Georgia.)